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There is more on the line than John Wilder’s re-election

by Frank Cagle

The Republican Party and conservative groups spent about a million dollars and countless volunteer hours to elect two new senators and take over the state Senate. There is now a white hot anger among grassroots Republicans in the discovery that some Republican state senators are going to vote to leave control with the Democrats by voting to retain Lt. Gov. John Wilder as speaker.

It is unfortunate that my friend Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, is one of them.

There are those, unfortunately, who have threatened Burchett with a well-funded opponent in his next election. These people do not know Burchett. You don’t threaten him, and he is not afraid. You don’t stand up against the income tax in that pressure cooker in Nashville by being weak-kneed.

That is not to say an argument is not needed. The last time Republicans elected enough senators to control the state Senate was 1870. With Republican control of the Senate, the conservative agenda has a level playing field with the House, still controlled by the Democrats and Speaker Jimmy Naifeh. A recent poll in the Tennessean said 47 percent of the voters preferred that the Legislature be in the hands of Republicans versus 40 percent for the Democrats.

Burchett views his allegiance to Wilder as his first priority. The Democrats tried to unseat Wilder in 1986. In order to hang onto power, he made an alliance with Republicans and traded committee chairs for votes to remain the nation’s longest serving speaker. Wilder has appointed some Republicans to committee chairs and he has campaigned for some incumbent Republican senators, like Burchett.

Wilder also has the public support of Sen. Curtis Person, R-Memphis. Person is chair of the Judiciary Committee. Two other Republican chairs, Mike Williams, R-Maynardville, Transportation, and Sen. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, Education, have not publicly committed.

But it is not just a matter of retaining Wilder as Senate speaker and lieutenant governor. It means retaining state Sen. John Ford, D-Memphis, as chair of Welfare, Health and Human Resources. Sen. Jerry Cooper, D-Morrison, as chair of Commerce. Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, as chair of State and Local Government. Sen. Thelma Harper, D-Nashville, as chair of Government Operations. Sen. Douglas Henry, D-Nashville, as chair of Finance Ways and Means. These are some of the most powerful committees in the Senate, especially Finance Ways and Means and Commerce.

There are some reports that Wilder will reconsider committee chairs if he is retained, but he also needs all the Democrats. Finance and Commerce are where the money is, and Democrats will be loathe to give them up. But the majority party ought to have them.

Retaining Wilder also means the Republicans will continue to be shut out of the state Building Commission, which signs off on all state construction projects. It means Republicans will be shut out of appointments to a variety of important boards and commissions, such as the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission and the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (formerly the Public Service Commission.)

It means that instead of a Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey negotiating with the Democrats in the House to advance a conservative agenda, Republicans will continue to react to Naifeh’s agenda.

One of the agenda items Republicans can expect will be an attempt to “reform” campaign finance laws. In the last election, Republicans picked up a House seat as well as two Senate seats. Republicans retained a large number of seats that were considered vulnerable due to retirements. They did this because conservative businessmen in Tennessee contributed a lot of money to the effort. Democrats, in control of both Houses, have long received the majority of lobbyist-generated money during election campaigns. This has not been labeled “dirty money.” But the Democrats will be calling for new legislation that will dry up this Republican support and return Democrats to fund-raising dominance.

In the first blush after the election, Burchett, being Burchett, considered his friendship with Wilder and went public with his support. I hope he will reconsider. While his loyalty to Wilder is admirable, he is also loyal to the people who put him where he is.

Burchett’s courage of his convictions is admirable, though wrong. But my advice to his Republican colleagues is to talk about what can be accomplished and beg him to reconsider. Anyone who thinks they can threaten him, doesn’t know the senior senator from Knoxville.

(Burchett will be my guest on Sound Off this Sunday.)

Frank Cagle is a political analyst and the host of Sound Off on WIVK FM107.7, WNOX AM990, FM99.1 and FM99.3 each Sunday 8-9:30 a.m.

November 11, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 46 © 2004 Metro Pulse